HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The Barker Theory states, that the way a baby grows in the womb affects its health in adult life.

In 1986 David Barker realized that areas of Britain currently recording high rates of coronary heart disease were the same areas that had recorded high rates of infant death seventy years before.

The question he then asked was: “Could it be that, in those areas with high infant mortality, the babies who clung to life had their development impaired in a way that made them vulnerable to heart disease as adults?”

An extensive search was undertaken to find old birth records, trace individuals on them, and establish their current health or cause of death. The results of this study showed that there was a strong correlation between low birth weight and heart disease. The work escalated, many papers were published, and studies were conducted worldwide adding to this body of knowledge. It became called the Barker Theory.

Low birth weight, at full term, indicates poor growth in the womb. Babies have low birth weight because they are undernourished. Other diseases have now been linked to low birth weight including diabetes, hypertension, stroke, osteoporosis and some cancers. The list continues to grow.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

The epidemic of “western diseases” is rising.

• Six million people in the U.S. die from coronary heart disease each year.
• 250 million people in the world have adult onset diabetes.
• There is a rising epidemic of obesity.

The underlying causes of western diseases — coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity — have not been discovered. The public health messages that blame adult lifestyles, and the search for the gene or genes that may be responsible have been largely unsuccessful. There has been considerable success in treating these diseases but their causes have still not been identified.

Over the last 20 years, research based on the Barker Theory has proven that malnutrition in the womb permanently changes a baby’s body in ways that initiate disease or makes the baby vulnerable to challenges in later life.

This message has been recognized by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition and by the World Health Organization.

WHAT IS KNOWN

From work done over the last 20 years we know:

• The way a baby grows in the womb depends on the mothers body composition and nutrition. This is a product of her lifetime nutrition beginning with her own life in the womb.
• Chronic disease has early origins, even before the embryo is implanted in the womb.
• There are critical windows of development for the placenta, embryo, fetus and newborn baby. Undernutrition during these critical windows permanently changes the body’s structure and function.
• Improved nutrition during early development will improve health and reduce the risk of disease in later life.
• Good nutrition in one generation improves the health of the next one.
• Therefore, it is now important to improve the monotonous and unbalanced diets consumed by girls and young women who will become the mothers of the future.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTION

A new medical science has formed.

The Barker Theory evolved through interdisciplinary collaboration between doctors and basic scientists. Its importance is now recognized by economists, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, gerontologists, historians, educators, and politicians.

The Barker Foundation is active in bringing these fields together.